I have had this 5-screw pre-10 for a few years now. I know it's a pre-10 because it's not stamped with any type of model number, but it has a serrated front sight. Now I also like to do a lot of window shopping, so I'm always looking at ads on GunBroker and various other places, and I've come to realize that I have never seen any other pre-10 with a serrated front sight. Every one I have come across has the semi circular front sight. So is there something peculiar about mine? Is it possible the barrel has been replaced? I'm only asking out of idle curiosity because it's just a shooter anyway.

I suppose I should add that as far as I can tell the barrel has not been removed, and it does have the ampersand with the big old butt, both in the lettering of "Smith & Wesson" and of "38 S&W special cartridge"

I'm not an S&W expert by any means but I prefer the 5 screw pre model 10s with a square butt over the later K frame revolvers. To me they look cooler like the old Colt Detective Specials with the half moon sights. Every pre 10 I've seen had the half moon front sight. The later model 10s have ramped front sights. So I'm guessing that your bbl has been swapped. Here's one where I'm swapping the 6 inch bbl for a nice 2 inch bbl that I found. I'm planning on sending it to Fords for a refinnish this year. The 2 inch nickle pre 10 is original but the Fitzed gun was in rough shape, pitted under the grips so I did a 2 inch bbl, cut the guard, bobbed the hammer and redid the sight. I had it parkerized. It's got a great action.

Thanks for the response, Ed. I guess I'll have to just go with the assumption that the barrel has been replaced. I suppose the only other way to know for sure is to get a letter from Smith & Wesson but it's really not that important to me to pay the money.

I dont know the details of when things like sights changed with them. One thing (besides asking on the Smith-wessonforum ) is check the date of yours from the serial number, then see if theres info online (google search, perhaps site specific to the smith-wessonforum) about when the sights started being serrated, also see if the barrel has a serial number on the flat underneath. If its serialed to the frame its probably original, I dont know if a factory replaced barrel would be, and a replaced barrel outside the factory is very unlikely to be numbered.

Many model detail changes werent fully done until parts were used up, and it may be possible that an older frame ended up with a newer barrel if the frame was at the bottom of the bin. Winchester was bad about stuff like that. Not sure how often it happened with Smith.

Edit: I did a little looking, the date of change to the serrated front sight on the M&P has been indicated as both 1952 and 1955-56 on the smith-wessonforum. I dont recall exact dates model numbers started appearing, 56-57 ish, so theres some time a pre-10 M&P could be original with the serrated front sight.

A note on gunbroker guns, many people dont accurately describe the guns they have for sale, or dont know the details correctly to describe them. I try to see if the pictures correspond to what they are saying, or pick up other clues.

If I recall, when I looked up the serial number it fell into the 1955 or 1956 time frame, so that seems to jibe with what you saw on the Smith and Wesson forum. I'm curious where you found that information exactly because I did Yahoo searches and looked on two different Smith & Wesson forums and couldn't find anything helpful.

There is no serial number underneath the barrel, but then there is nothing under the barrel of my 10-7 either. I'm not sure why that would be the case, or when they did and didn't put those numbers in place.

Yes, I have gotten to the point where I hardly even bother to read the actual description on Gunbroker. I mainly go by the pictures. it is amazing how much information in the description is obviously incorrect based on just a casual perusal of the pictures. That is why I don't even bother to look at any ads that have no pictures or stock photos, because you literally have no idea what they're going to send you if you bid on it. It's really frustrating and even kind of amusing at the same time, how they will have a picture of a revolver with a 5 inch barrel, and then in the item description they say it has a 4-inch barrel, but then under the item characteristics they will say it has a 6-inch barrel, what the hell. And of course there are those item descriptions that don't tell you anything at all about the item but have 20 paragraphs about their return policy and feedback and blah blah blah, or some sort of political rant... I really don't even understand how some people ever manage to sell anything.

Of course I also get highly suspicious when they have several pictures of one side of the firearm and not a single one of the other side, or a lot of pictures from really weird angles, or several pictures that are crystal clear sharp and then the only picture of the left side is so blurry you can't even tell if it's a firearm. I mean you know they took it with a digital camera so the result is available immediately. It's not like they had to send the pictures off to be developed and got them back and said oh crap these are blurry.

I just looked at a couple of my early Smiths. Some have a serial number under the bbl, some nothing. There are matching assembly nos on the crane and frame while the serial no is always on the butt. My modern guns have the serial and model no under the crane on the frame.